From jail, Garduno tells his side of story

STOCKTON - Michael Andrew Garduno, one of four suspects charged with killing Aaron Kelly Jr. at Louis Park on Feb. 8, said Wednesday in an interview that his only guilty act from that Friday night was accepting a ride from the wrong man.

STOCKTON - Michael Andrew Garduno, one of four suspects charged with killing Aaron Kelly Jr. at Louis Park on Feb. 8, said Wednesday in an interview that his only guilty act from that Friday night was accepting a ride from the wrong man.
Garduno, 19, said he was a passenger in the car of 22-year-old Chanreasmey Prum, who pulled up to the park, got out and started an argument with 20-year-old Jonathan Tellez Jr., threatening to kill Tellez. Moments later, Garduno said Prum opened fire at several fleeing cars, including one carrying Kelly, 13, who died from a single gunshot.
"He's got a machine gun," Garduno said of Prum. "Who's going to stop him? I'm not Superman. Even if I wanted to, I mean, he's got a machine gun."
Garduno called The Record on Wednesday afternoon from the San Joaquin County Jail and gave his story in a 30-minute interview. Garduno said he has never been arrested before, has no gang ties, no gang tattoos, owns no guns and only knew Prum by his street name: "Beast."
Garduno, Deandre Cole, 16, and Rattany Uy, 17, were arrested Friday and charged with murder, attempted murder and street terrorism. Prum was arrested days after the shooting on similar charges.
Cole and Uy face life in prison, while the charges make Garduno and Prum eligible for death sentences. Prum denied the charges in an earlier jailhouse interview with The Record but declined to say if he was at the park at the time of the shooting.
That night, Garduno said he was walking to a neighborhood market with Cole, his distant cousin, to buy cigars that they used for smoking marijuana. Prum and a hooded man in the front seat of Prum's car waited outside, and Prum asked if he could smoke, too, Garduno said.
"I had no knowledge of what he was going to do," Garduno said, adding that he could not identify the hooded passenger. "I was just smoking and riding. It was Friday night, man."
Garduno said Prum drove the four of them directly to the park, just minutes away. Prum got out and approached Tellez, who was there with his father and his father's girlfriend, Renee Garcia. Garcia was Kelly's mother.
Out of curiosity, Garduno said he and Cole stepped out of the car to hear the argument a short distance away between Prum and Tellez. Garduno said he heard Prum shout: "I'm going to kill you," and then Prum pulled the gun from under his shirt, Garduno said.
Prum told Tellez's group to get out of the park and yelled, "Westside Bloods," Garduno said.
"Next thing, I turn around, he started shooting at the cars," Garduno said. "My first reaction, when I hear a gun, is to run. I started running home."
Cole was at his side fleeing too, Garduno said.
Garduno, the father of two baby daughters and expecting a third, said he has an extreme fear of guns, having been shot in a gang attack on Sept. 11, 2007, while standing outside his home in the same neighborhood.
In that shooting, Cole was hit three times, and one bullet struck Garduno in the left ankle, Garduno said. He said he had to go on disability from his job at a Tracy meat plant. He planned to return to work as a forklift driver, but then he was arrested.
Garduno said he didn't go directly to police, fearing retaliation against himself and his numerous relatives living in the same gang-ridden neighborhood. Garduno said he is related by marriage to Renee Garcia and her slain son.
"I don't see how I'm being charged with murder," he said. "I'm being incarcerated, and I can't even touch my daughter. That's all I want to do."
Contact reporter Scott Smith at (209) 546-8296 or ssmith@recordnet.com.